AEN Regional Short Courses

The Academic Engagement Network’s regional short courses are an innovative new initiative designed to offer AEN members an opportunity to learn more about contemporary 21st century Israel, develop strategies related to BDS on campus, and network with other interested faculty. The purpose of the course is to assist committed AEN members to be better informed about issues and questions regarding contemporary Israel, in a sense to enhance their Israel literacy, and as well to bolster the knowledge and skill set of AEN members who we hope will be active as regional leaders in AEN’s efforts to respond to BDS and similar challenges on their campuses.

These 3-½-day courses will be residence-based, academically immersive, and interactive, will be limited to 15-20 participants per course, and will take place in regional hubs around the country. Reasonable travel and stay costs will be paid.

Roughly half of each short course will be devoted to providing educational content on Israeli state and society and on the competing narratives of the Israeli-Arab Palestinian conflict. The other half will address the ways that Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict impact America in general and the university campus specifically, including topics like the BDS movement and its features, traditions of academic freedom and freedom of expression on campus, and the intellectual framework current in higher education that fosters hostility toward Israel and its supporters. We will also explore the sensitive subject of acting as advocate without damaging credibility as scholar and educator. Course materials will include excerpts from AEN’s Academic Freedom, Freedom of Expression, and the BDS Challenge: A Guide and Resource Book for University Faculty, and other relevant publications.

The regional short course this spring will take place in the Greater Boston area, June 3-6, 2019.

Applicants from the region where a course is held will have priority over other potential participants. AEN members from the Northeast region will be considered first for the regional short course in Boston.